City of Hazen, North Dakota - Building Inspector

City of Hazen, North Dakota

city

146 Main Street East, PO Box 717, Hazen, ND 58545

Not required

Required

Hazen City Hall is at 146 Main Street East, PO Box 717, Hazen, ND 58545, on 701-748-2550, fax 701-748-2559, open Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. The City states that "The building permit can be completed, printed and delivered to the City Planner", and publishes the Application For Building Permit and a Curb, Gutter, Driveway Installation or Replacement Permit alongside it. WHAT THE APPLICATION LOOKS LIKE. It is a single-page form addressed "TO THE BUILDING INSPECTOR", with an undertaking "to do the proposed work in accordance with the description below set forth and according to the provisions of the ordinances of the City of Hazen". It asks for the applicant, contractor, estimated cost, completion date, zoning district, use, construction, stories, rooms, foundation, exterior walls, sidewall height, owner, address, lot, block and addition, lot size and area, area of main and accessory buildings, percent of lot occupied, and setbacks; a Subcontractor block with lines for Heating, Plumbing, Electrical, Roof and Basement; and a plot plan drawn on the form's own grid showing existing buildings and use. It also carries water and sewer fees, a deposit, a construction water use fee, a variance-requested line and the permit fee, and it is signed off "Approved By City Commission" and by the Building Inspector. TWO DEADLINES ON THE FORM ITSELF. "This Permit Expires In 6 Months Unless Renewed Prior To Expiration", which matches Zoning Ordinance Section 5.4(2). And the form prints the North Dakota one-call number: "BEFORE YOU DIG CALL 1-800-795-0555". FEES are set by resolution of the Board of City Commissioners under Section 8.0107 rather than in the ordinance, so ask for the current schedule; the fee includes one inspection and additional or re-inspections are billed to the contractor. WHERE THE CODE LIVES. Hazen publishes its whole codified ordinance as per-chapter PDFs on its City Codes and Ordinances page, including Chapter VIII Building Codes and a separately linked current Zoning Ordinance.

Hazen adopts the North Dakota State Building Code on a FLOATING basis and then amends it. Hazen City Ordinance Section 8.0101, Adoption of Code, in Chapter VIII, Building Codes, provides: "The erection, construction, enlargement, alteration, repair, moving, removal, demolition, conversion, occupancy, equipment, uses, height, area and maintenance of building or structures in the City of Hazen shall meet the provisions of the Rules and regulations of the State Building Code, State Mechanical Code, State Plumbing Code and State Electrical Code and any existing supplements and subsequent amendments, one copy of which code is on file with City Auditor and is hereby made a part of this chapter by reference with the exception of the sections hereinafter set forth affecting local conditions in the City, which are amended, deleted, or added to, for use and application in the city, and the city hereby adopts said code as so modified." The words "and any existing supplements and subsequent amendments" make it floating, so a state update reaches Hazen without a new City ordinance. WHAT THAT MEANS TODAY. The 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book states: "Effective January 1, 2026, the North Dakota State Building Code consists of the 2024 International Building Code (IBC), International Residential Code (IRC), International Mechanical Code (IMC), International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC), International Energy Conservation Code, and the International Existing Building Code as published by the International Code Council (ICC)," and it adds "NO APPENDICES ARE ADOPTED." A house in Hazen therefore runs on the 2024 International Residential Code, with no appendix chapters. WHO INSPECTS WHAT, WHICH HAZEN STATES PLAINLY AND MOST CITIES DO NOT. The same Section 8.0101 closes: "The City does not inspect for compliance with the State Mechanical Code, State Plumbing Code or State Electrical Code and are subject to inspections by the appropriate State agencies and their employees." So mechanical, plumbing and electrical inspections are the State's, not the City's. THE LOCAL AMENDMENTS, WHICH ARE FEW AND NONE OF THEM TOUCHES A ROOF COVERING. Chapter VIII was read in full - Article 1, General Building Code, Sections 8.0101 to 8.0109; Article 2, Moving Buildings, 8.0201 to 8.0209; Article 3, Demolition of Structures, 8.0301 to 8.0304; Article 4, Trenched Footings, 8.0401 to 8.0402. Its substantive local additions are a set of standards for steel buildings at Section 8.0105, a trenched-footing specification at Article 4, and four clarifications at Section 8.0106: "Municipality" or "City" means the City of Hazen; "Whenever the Building Code shall conflict with a city ordinance, the ordinance shall govern"; a reference to fire limits means the fire limits in Chapter IV; and "The City Commission shall serve as the Board of Appeals." Note the second of those - in Hazen a City ordinance beats the adopted building code. VARIANCES. Section 8.0109 lets the City Commission grant a variance from the building code "where such variance will not be contrary to the public interest, where the characteristics of the particular property warrant a variance, and strict enforcement of code provisions would result in unnecessary and undue hardship." THE STATE FRAMEWORK. NDCC 54-21.3-03(6): "The governing body of a city, township, or county that elects to administer and enforce a building code shall adopt and enforce the state building code. However, the state building code may be amended by cities, townships, and counties to conform to local needs." THE SEPARATE ZONING INSTRUMENT. Hazen's current Zoning Ordinance was "Prepared by the Hazen Planning and Zoning Commission and the Hazen City Commission and adopted this 11th day of May, 2026" and is a separate document from Chapter VIII. It carries its own building permit section and its own architectural rules, both covered below.

Required — The International Residential Code drip-edge requirement for asphalt-shingle roof coverings applies in Hazen unamended, and both instruments that could have changed it were opened and read in full. THE CHAIN. Hazen City Ordinance Section 8.0101 adopts the State Building Code "and any existing supplements and subsequent amendments", which since 1 January 2026 has been the 2024 International Residential Code for one- and two-family dwellings, per the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book. Chapter VIII was then read in full, Sections 8.0101 through 8.0402: its local amendments are a steel-building standard, a trenched-footing specification, four administrative clarifications, and the moving and demolition articles. None amends the roof-assemblies chapter. The Hazen Zoning Ordinance adopted 11 May 2026 was read in full and amends no building code provision at all. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code were also read in full, the numbered section amendments running from Section 104.8 to Section 2103.3, and none reaches that chapter. So there is no local softening and no local addition, and the requirement stands as the adopted code writes it. WHAT THIS RECORD DOES NOT DO. The operative International Code Council text of the drip-edge section sits behind the ICC paywall; this record does not restate it and does not rely on any third-party republication of it. What is recorded is the sourced fact that the requirement is in force in Hazen unamended. Take the material, the extent and the fastener spacing from the 2024 International Residential Code itself, or from the Building Inspector. AND THE POINT THAT MATTERS MOST HERE. Because a plain re-roof is off Hazen's permit list, no City inspection will pick this up - the permit exemption removes the inspection, not the requirement. The obligation is on the person doing the work. About drip edge

Not required — No mid-roof, roof-deck or roof-covering inspection stage exists in Hazen. The City publishes its own list of inspection stages in its enacted ordinance rather than on a web page, and it was read in full. Section 8.0103, "Inspections Required", sets out two schedules. For site-built structures and additions: "Staking: Staking of the building location prior to any excavation"; "Footing: When all forms and rebar are in place, prior to pouring any concrete", with a separate rule for detached garages on a floating slab and for pole structures, where the inspection is made before the poles go in; "Foundation Walls: When all forms and rebar are in place and prior to pouring any concrete"; "Framing/Insulation: After all interior walls are in place and installation of insulation, prior to any interior sheeting"; "Interior Sheeting: After all interior sheeting is installed, prior to any taping (unheated storage buildings NA)"; and "Final: After all work is completed and the building is ready for occupancy." The section adds that "Remodeling/repurposing projects will be subject to items 4-6 above." For pre-constructed structures the list is staking, footing, foundation walls and final. There is a third, separate requirement for water and sewer connections. No roof, underlayment or mid-roof stage appears anywhere on either schedule. NOTICE PERIOD, WHICH IS LONGER THAN MOST. Section 8.0104: "The contractor/owner shall notify the building inspector 48 business hours in advance of any required inspection." Business hours, not calendar hours - build that into a schedule. WHAT AN INSPECTION COSTS. Section 8.0107 provides that the permit fee "shall include the inspection fees for one inspection" as required in the relevant list, and that "The contractor shall be billed for any additional inspections and/or re-inspections that may be required." IN PRACTICE THIS RARELY ARISES ON A RE-ROOF AT ALL, because a plain re-roof is not on Hazen's permit list. THE STATE TRADES ARE NOT THE CITY'S. Section 8.0101 states that the City does not inspect for compliance with the State Mechanical, Plumbing or Electrical Codes, which are inspected by the appropriate State agencies.

Not required — No impact-resistance mandate applies in Hazen, at either level of government, and that is established by reading the instruments rather than by failing to find one. CITY LEVEL. Two Hazen instruments could carry one and both were read in full: Chapter VIII of the City Ordinances, Building Codes, Sections 8.0101 through 8.0402 across all four articles; and the Hazen Zoning Ordinance adopted 11 May 2026. Neither contains a UL 2218, Class 4, Class IV or FM 4473 provision, and neither imposes an impact, hail or roof-covering rating requirement of any kind. Chapter X of the City Ordinances, Business Licenses and Regulations, was also read and creates no construction standard. STATE LEVEL. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, were read in full - the numbered section amendments running from Section 104.8 to Section 2103.3 - and none addresses roofing at all, let alone impact rating. AN IMPORTANT DISTINCTION. Impact resistance under UL 2218 is a hail rating. It is not the same thing as a fire classification, which is graded under ASTM E108 or UL 790, or a wind rating, which is graded under ASTM D3161 or D7158. Hazen does have fire limits, carried in Chapter IV and referenced by Section 8.0106(3), but that is a fire provision and says nothing about impact. An impact-rated shingle may well be worth buying in Mercer County, and an insurer may discount for one, but nothing in Hazen or North Dakota law requires it. WHAT HAZEN DOES REGULATE ON A ROOF is appearance, not rating: on an accessory building above a stated size the Zoning Ordinance requires that "The siding, roof covering, roof pitch, and eve overhang shall match the residence."

A RE-ROOF IS NOT ON HAZEN'S PERMIT LIST, AND THE LIST IS A CLOSED ONE - BUT STRUCTURAL WORK ON A ROOF IS CAUGHT BY A SECOND ORDINANCE, SO READ BOTH BEFORE DECIDING. THE BUILDING CODES CHAPTER. Hazen City Ordinance Section 8.0102, headed "Permits Required", reads: "Building permits are required for all new construction, additions to existing structures, decks larger than one hundred (100) square feet or additions to a deck that make it larger than one hundred square feet, remodeling, in ground swimming pools, commercial standalone signs or towers, commercial storage tanks greater than 1,000 gallons. For the purposes of this section new construction shall include site constructed structures, pre-constructed structures, modular homes and manufactured homes, except for storage sheds one hundred forty four (144) square feet or less." Roofing, re-roofing and roof covering appear nowhere on that list. AND THE DEFINITION THAT FOLLOWS IS THE DECISIVE SENTENCE. The same section continues: "Remodeling is defined as a project that changes the use of a space or spaces and/or changes in the floor plan. Remodeling does not include a renovation, to make a space new without changing its use." A tear-off and re-cover changes neither the use of a space nor the floor plan, and it is exactly the kind of renewal the second sentence puts outside remodeling. So it is not caught by the word "remodeling" either. WHERE A ROOFING JOB DOES NEED A PERMIT. Hazen's Zoning Ordinance, adopted 11 May 2026, carries its own trigger at Section 5.4(1): "It shall be unlawful for any person to build upon any land or structurally alter any building without obtaining a building permit." (The ordinance's own typescript prints the word as "structually".) A job that structurally alters the building - new rafters or trusses, a changed roof line, a dormer, or work that turns into an addition - is therefore permit work even though a plain re-cover is not. A permit issued under that section expires six months from the date of issuance, and building permit fees are set by resolution of the Hazen City Commission. TWO THINGS THAT ARE TRUE WHICHEVER SIDE OF THE LINE YOUR JOB FALLS ON. First, a permit exemption is not a code exemption: the adopted State Building Code still governs how the work is done, and Section 8.0106(2) provides that "Whenever the Building Code shall conflict with a city ordinance, the ordinance shall govern." Second, the City is explicit about who to ask - the Building Inspector at City Hall, 146 Main Street East, on 701-748-2550. TWO NEIGHBOURING RULES WORTH KNOWING. Decks are on the permit list above 100 square feet, so a re-roof that includes a porch or deck rebuild can cross the line. And demolition of a building or structure in Hazen needs its own demolition permit from the City Auditor under Section 8.0303, with utilities disconnected to the building inspector's satisfaction, adjacent streets, sidewalks and alleys protected by fences and scaffolds with pedestrian traffic re-routed on the building inspector's approval, all debris removed and the site filled and levelled, completion within 60 days, and a bond of not less than $1,000 under Section 8.0304.

HAZEN PUBLISHES NO DESIGN WIND SPEED FOR A DWELLING, AND THE ONE WIND FIGURE IN ITS ORDINANCES IS A STEEL-BUILDING RULE THAT POINTS AT A MODEL CODE NO LONGER PUBLISHED. Read this entry for what it rules out as much as for what it gives. WHAT WAS READ. Chapter VIII of the Hazen City Ordinances, Building Codes, Sections 8.0101 to 8.0402, and the Hazen Zoning Ordinance adopted 11 May 2026, both in full. Neither contains a climatic and geographic design criteria table, a ground snow load, a seismic design category, a frost depth, a winter design temperature or an ice-barrier determination. THE ONE WIND PROVISION, IN FULL CONTEXT. Section 8.0105 is headed "Standards for Steel Buildings" and applies "In addition to the standards set forth by the State Building Code for the construction of steel buildings". Its item (b) reads: "Walls - Minimum wind load shall comply with the Uniform Building Code. An engineer's Certificate of Compliance is required." Its item (a) reads: "Roof - Minimum live load of 30 pounds per square foot. An engineer's Certificate of Compliance is required." THREE LIMITS ON THAT, ALL OF WHICH MATTER. It is a STEEL-building rule, so it does not set the design wind speed for a wood-framed house. It is a WALL rule, not a roof rule - the roof half of the same section is a live load, not a wind load. And it refers to the Uniform Building Code, which has not been published for many years and which is not the code Hazen adopts for anything else; this record reports that as it stands rather than substituting a figure the City has never adopted. WHERE THE NUMBERS ACTUALLY COME FROM. Section 8.0101 adopts the North Dakota State Building Code on a floating basis, so the wind, snow and ice design criteria for a dwelling in Hazen are those of the 2024 International Residential Code as adopted by the state, which the City does not restate and this record does not either. If your fastening schedule or a product approval is written to a design wind speed, get that figure from the Building Inspector on 701-748-2550 rather than reading it out of Section 8.0105.

Hazen imposes no layer or recover rule of its own, so the question falls back to the adopted code. WHAT WAS READ. Chapter VIII of the Hazen City Ordinances, Building Codes, was read in full - all four articles, Sections 8.0101 through 8.0402 - and it contains no roof-covering, shingle, recover or re-roofing provision and no limit on the number of layers. The Hazen Zoning Ordinance adopted 11 May 2026 was also read in full and contains no such provision either; its roofing content is architectural, covered under the deck and sheathing entry. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, published in the 2026 North Dakota State Building Code Book, were read in full - the numbered section amendments running from Section 104.8 to Section 2103.3 - and none of them reaches the roof-assemblies chapter. SO THE BASE CODE GOVERNS, UNMODIFIED. How many roof-covering layers a house in Hazen may carry is whatever the 2024 International Residential Code itself provides in its roof-assemblies chapter, with no City and no state variation on top. That operative text sits behind the International Code Council paywall; this record does not restate it and does not rely on any third-party republication of it. What is recorded here is the sourced fact that no local or state amendment changes it. THE PRACTICAL POINT IN HAZEN. Because a plain re-roof needs no permit here, nobody at the City will check the layer count for you before the work starts - which makes it worth getting right, since the code obligation survives the permit exemption. Take the layer rule from the 2024 International Residential Code itself, or from the Building Inspector on 701-748-2550. THE ONE HAZEN NUMBER THAT BEARS ON STACKING WEIGHT is in Section 8.0105(a), and it applies to STEEL buildings only: a minimum roof live load of 30 pounds per square foot, with an engineer's Certificate of Compliance required.

Hazen publishes no roof sheathing or decking standard for an ordinary dwelling, and that is established by reading its instruments in full rather than by failing to find one. Chapter VIII, Building Codes, was read from Section 8.0101 to Section 8.0402 and contains no sheathing provision, no span table, no panel thickness minimum and no roof fastener schedule. The Zoning Ordinance adopted 11 May 2026 was read in full and contains none either. The North Dakota amendments to the 2024 International Residential Code, read in full from Section 104.8 to Section 2103.3, contain no roof-assemblies amendment. SO THE DECK REQUIREMENT IS THE BASE CODE'S, UNMODIFIED - the 2024 International Residential Code, taken through Section 8.0101's floating adoption of the State Building Code. That operative text sits behind the International Code Council paywall, is not restated here, and no third-party republication of it is relied on. THREE HAZEN RULES THAT DO REACH A ROOF, NONE OF THEM ABOUT THE DECK OF A HOUSE. First, steel buildings. Section 8.0105, "Standards for Steel Buildings", applies "In addition to the standards set forth by the State Building Code for the construction of steel buildings" and requires: "Roof - Minimum live load of 30 pounds per square foot. An engineer's Certificate of Compliance is required"; "Walls - Minimum wind load shall comply with the Uniform Building Code. An engineer's Certificate of Compliance is required"; footings below the frost line except for trench footings under Article 4, with four re-rods carried from footing into any poured column; and "Exterior Wall - Shall be painted. Unpainted walls are prohibited." Second, accessory buildings. The Zoning Ordinance provides for accessory buildings above a stated size that they "shall be of frame construction and have an architectural design compatible with existing residence", that "Pole frame construction buildings are prohibited", and that "The siding, roof covering, roof pitch, and eve overhang shall match the residence." So on a detached garage or shed the covering, the pitch and the overhang have to match the house - a real constraint when a homeowner re-roofs the house in a different product from the garage. Third, the inspection stages. Hazen's own list at Section 8.0103 includes "Framing/Insulation: After all interior walls are in place and installation of insulation, prior to any interior sheeting", which is where structural roof framing on a permitted job is looked at.

6.50% on materials in Hazen - North Dakota state sales and use tax of 5%, plus the City of Hazen's 1.5% local sales, use and gross receipts tax. That is half a point below its neighbour Beulah, which is worth knowing on a Mercer County job. THERE IS NO COUNTY COMPONENT. Mercer County does not appear in the county table of the North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner's Local Taxes by Location Guideline, which lists only eight North Dakota counties as imposing a local tax - Burleigh, Cass, Hettinger, Morton, Steele, Walsh, Ward and Williams - and the Hazen city row is neither shaded nor marked with a county name, the two marks the guideline uses for a city that also owes county tax. The guideline, rates effective 1 July 2026, gives Hazen local code 134 and a current rate of 1.5%, built from 1% effective 4-1-95 and 0.5% effective 1-1-14. THE CITY'S OWN ORDINANCE AGREES. Hazen City Ordinance Section 19.0102, as amended 7/1/2013, imposes "a tax of one and one-half percent (1 1/2 %) ... upon the gross receipts of retailers from all sales at retail ... within the corporate limits of the City of Hazen, North Dakota". THERE IS A PER-TRANSACTION CAP, AND IT IS LOW. Section 19.0105: "No single transaction by the taxpayer from any one customer involving one or more items is subject to a tax in excess of $25.00." The state guideline records the same $25 per sale maximum, in force since 4-1-95. At 1.5% that cap is reached on a $1,667 purchase, so most shingle orders will run past it, and the guideline warns that the cap "is calculated on each material purchase a contractor makes to fulfill a construction contract, not on purchase orders or the entire construction contract itself." New farm machinery is not subject to the local tax; permit holder compensation is 3%, capped at $83.33 a month or $250.00 a quarter. WHO PAYS IT ON A ROOF. North Dakota treats a roofing contractor as the final consumer of the materials installed into real property: "A contractor or subcontractor entering into any contract, except for a labor only contract, is regarded as the final user or consumer of all tangible personal property installed into real property." So the contractor pays the tax on its material purchases and does not charge the homeowner sales tax on an install-plus-materials re-roof; selling materials without installing them is a taxable retail sale instead. ONE POINT THAT CUTS AGAINST BUYING IN TOWN FOR AN OUT-OF-TOWN JOB. Hazen is NOT among the sixty local ordinances the guideline names as carrying the limited exemption for "materials that are purchased within the jurisdiction, but later installed outside of the jurisdiction where the sale took place." Without it, where a contractor buys on a certificate of exemption the guideline's default applies: "use tax is due to the local jurisdiction where the materials were purchased regardless of where the materials were installed."